Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Zagreb

On the occasion of its 70thanniversary, one of the biggest and most significant Croatian festivals, and one of the oldest European ones too –the Dubrovnik Summer Festival– is coming to Zagreb in September, with the support of the Zagreb Tourist Board!

The culture institutions and artists of Zagreb have for decades been indispensable co-creators of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival’s programmes, as well as dear guests of the Festival and Dubrovnik over the summer. Thus, on the Festival’s grand anniversary, this important partnership will be celebrated by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival coming to Zagreb. A varied programme of this pop-up edition of the largest Croatian festival will present the Zagreb audiences and their guests with the best of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival’s theatre and music productions, the work of primarily domestic, Croatian and Dubrovnik, artists.

This summer in the Rector’s Palace atrium, the Dubrovnik audiences enjoyedThe Music of Dubrovnik Summer Villas, performed by the brilliant soloistsBojan ČičićandDmitry Sinkovskyon violins, andTomislav Fačinion harpsichord who were joined by the excellentElene Davidova,Hiwote Tadesse,Fran Petrač,Lea Sušanj Lujo,Stjepan Nodilo,Manuela Maria Mitterer,Hermann Ebner,Atay BağcıandIzidor Erazem Grafenauer. On6 September, this unique programme will present fiveSorkočevićsymphonies, along withHändelandVivaldipieces and the first modern performance ofIvan Jarnović'sConcerto Favorito Zagreb audiences. The concert dazzled the Festival crowd in Dubrovnik, with applause following every composition and the musicians deservedly receiving ovations at the end of the concert. Conversely, the aforementioned talented musicians recorded seven Sorkočević symphonies earlier this year, the album entitledSorkočević 7published by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, with the support of the Caboga Stiftung Foundation.

* Admission to the concert is free with tickets previously picked up at the Tourist Information Center on Ban Jelacic Square 6 (passage Harmica).Tickets are available from September 3rd.

Sunday, September 8th, 11am and 6pm

Zagreb Puppet Theatre

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: THE LITTLE PRINCE

IVAN JOSIP SKENDER composer and conductor

HRVOJE KORBAR director

The Little Princesaw numerous film, theatre and music adaptations, earning an almost mythical status in world literature. In this adaptation ofThe Little Prince,the magic is in the music through which first the Rector’s Palace and now the Zagreb Puppet Theatre transform into the desert and space, and through which one of the book’s core messages – that of seeing the unseen, that which is barely noticeable or merely indicated, of exercising the imagination – is imparted on the young audiences. Encouraged by the last year’s successful children’s programme, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival put on, for its anniversary edition, the premiere musical theatre pieceThe Little Prince, based on the beloved novella of the celebrated French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, directed by Hrvoje Korbar with composer and conductor Ivan Josip Skender. The ensemble consists ofLivio Badurina(the Pilot / Grown-ups),Rok Juričić(the Little Prince) andMarija Kuhar Šoša(the Rose / the Fox / the Snake). The set and costumes are designed byZdravka Ivandija Kirigin.

Friday, September 13th, 8pm

The Zagreb Youth Theatre

Ranko Marinković: UNDER THE BALCONIES (POD BALKONIMA)

DARIO HARJAČEK director

Under the Balconiesis a play based on a selection of motifs from the eponymous Ranko Marinković short story collection, directed byDario Harjačekand with dramaturgy byVedrana Klepica. At the 69thDubrovnik Summer Festival, the actressNataša Kopečwon the prestigious Orlando Award for her outstanding performance in the play as Oliva! As was the case last summer, the audiences of the 70thFestival recognized and resonated with Marinković’s sharp social commentary and the play’s astounding modernity, which stems partly from the narrative’s striking correspondence to the current political, social and economic moment. It is no surprise that roaring applause and enthusiastic cheers reverberated through the University of Dubrovnik Campus Park where the play was put on, rewarding the marvellous Festival Drama Ensemble who portrayed Marinković’s complex characters perfectly, reaching new artistic heights in their performances. The brilliant Ensemble included actors Marko Makovčić, Doris Šarić Kukuljica, Helena Buljan, Maro Martinović, Jerko Marčić who replaced Dado Ćosić as Mićel, Nikša Butijer, Dušan Gojić, Ugo Korani, Livio Badurina, Nataša Kopeč, Linda Begonja, Jelena Miholjević, Ema Pralas, Josip Brakus, Marin Klišmanić and Ivan Pašalić. Vesna Režić did the set design, Doris Kristić the costumes, Nenad Sinkauz the music, while the lighting design for the play was done by Elvis Butković.

Tuesday, September 17th, 8pm

Cultural information Center, KIC

Exhibition opening

Marko Ercegović: FESTIVAL BACKSTAGE

TheFestival Backstageexhibition by photographerMarko Ercegovićis dedicated to the ‘invisible’ Festival-making process. The exhibition was formally opened on 17 August in the Sponza Palace in Dubrovnik, and exactly a month later it will be presented to the Zagreb audience.

As one of the official photographers for the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and over the course of his professional career, Marko Ercegović made his mark in theatre photography. Although he usually takes phenomenal photos of actors amid performances on the stage, this summer he pointed his camera behind it as well, to the costume designers, manual workers, technicians, directors and actors right before or just after their plays. Along with the backstage, he also captured moments in the Festival palace, collecting in his photo-archives moments with which the general public is usually not familiar. “The idea was to capture the 70thanniversary of the Festival in a way that, in addition to the standard backstage photography, the workers of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival can receive equal attention in the documenting the process of the Festival’s production. It is to them that this exhibition is dedicated – a community that has, despite the overwhelming tourism industry, preserved the knowledge of how to set up a stage or audience seating arrangements, of creating costumes or sets, organising and managing the arrival and rehearsals of an entire philharmonic orchestra or ten theatre companies, and that has at the same time preserved the knowledge, that has been passed down for three generations, on how to successfully steer a truck loaded with construction material through the crowded Stradun in the middle of the scorching Dubrovnik summer. This kind of knowledge is what makes an anniversary like this possible,” writes Ercegović about the exhibition.

* Entrance is free. The exhibition is open until September 26th.

Wednesday, September 25th, 8pm

Blagoje Bersa Concert Hall, Zagreb Academy of Music

AVISHAI COHEN TRIO

The numerous Festival audience enjoyed a world-class jazz programme with the acclaimedAvishai Cohen triowho performed on the stunning Revelin Fort terrace, sponsored by Mastercard. The jazz masters will hold a concert for the Zagreb audience too, as part of the “Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Zagreb” programme, on 25 September 2019 in the Zagreb Academy of Music’s Blagoje Bersa Concert Hall.

The world-class jazz masters thrilled the crowd with their energetic and impressive performance of primarily their latest music from the Arvoles album; a music treat for which the critics have sung praises, an album that “the more you listen, the more you love.” Critics have said that Cohen’s performances are “unique and incomparable, a real privilege for the lucky concertgoers” while DownBeat magazine called Cohen a “jazz visionary of global proportions.” Cohen found the perfect musical combination in his trio and together they recorded three studio albums:Gently Disturbed,From Darkness, and the just releasedArvoles, from June 2019, which offers listeners a “perplexing, mystic and magical, yet top-tier” sound which combines and takes inspiration from sundry genres, such as classical music and jazz, bebop and hardbop, swing, hip-hop, and African-Caribbean rhythms. Davor Hrvoj rated the trio’s Dubrovnik debuta first-class musical event “which has mesmerized the large audience,” saying that Cohen’s music “has a healing power for those who surrender to it completely.”

* Tickets at a price of 180 kuna are available on the websiteulaznice.hr

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